In deep-red Washington County, a surge in Democratic candidates

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Several candidates have since announced their withdraw after this article was written by Maryland Matters.

by Rhiannon Evans, Maryland Matters
March 28, 2026

Dave Williams was one of two Democrats running for a Washington County commissioner seat four years ago.

Now, he’s one in a field of eight Democrats running for the five seats that have historically been Republican-held.

“I’m very dissatisfied with the most recent actions of our current county commissioners,” Williams said on why he’s running.

For Williams, a retired public school librarian, the action that motivated him was the decision by the current board of county commissioners last year that essentially ended public comment at commission meetings. For others, it’s the more recent decision by the commissioners to endorse Immigration and Customs Enforcements plans to convert an 825,000-square-foot warehouse in Williamsport into a detention center for up to 1,500 immigrants.

For Patrick Dattilio, it’s a little of both.

The commissioners unanimously passed a resolution expressing full support for the construction of the ICE detention facility on Feb. 10. The resolution was approved despite an array of protests from county residents who disapproved of the construction.

As No Kings protests grow, a bigger question looms: What comes next?

“I think it’s really caused an upheaval in terms of people with the county commissioners, really on all sides,” said Dattilio, founder of Hagerstown Rapid Response, a grassroots coalition sharing information and researching projects related to the proposed Williamsport ICE detention facility. “It’s not even just people on the left that seem to be very much tired of these county commissioners.”

The county commissioners did not respond to multiple requests for comment about this year’s elections.

It’s not just Democrats who are motivated. Curtis Reigh, one of the nine Republicans running for county commissioner, also cited the lack of public comment at board meetings as a reason for getting not just more Democratic candidates, but younger candidates as well.

“I don’t care if you’re a friend or an enemy,” the 28-year-old Reigh said. “If you’re on the red party, blue party or green party, you deserve freedom of speech.”

The board clamped down on public comment at its meetings last summer, after the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board said in July that it was unlawful to specifically ban Maryland resident Shaun Porter from future meetings after he mooned the commissioners at a meeting. So the board imposed rules on all speakers.

Now, attendees can only bring one 12-by-24-inch sign with them to board meetings, as long as it does not disrupt the orderly conduct of the meeting, according to the Board of County Commissioners’ conduct rules.

Dattilio, who’s running for the county’s Democratic Central Committee, said he thinks the lack of public comment at meetings will be a big campaign point this election cycle.

“Bringing back the public comment, bringing back the idea that the people are in charge, and the county commissioners work for us,” Dattilio said. “That’s going to be a very, very strong point to be made.”

Todd Eberly, a professor of political science and public policy at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, suggested that the number of Democratic candidates could also be a direct effect of the Maryland Democratic Party’s Contest Every Seat effort, creating a more competitive race that could compel a higher voter turnout.

“If you live in an area that overwhelmingly favors one party or the other, and you’ve got somebody running for office who’s uncontested, the people in the party that’s out of power have no real reason or motivation to turn out and vote,” Eberly said.

Contest Every Seat is an effort to have a Democratic candidate filed in every race across the state. While they were successful in filing a Democratic candidate in every race at the national and state level, they weren’t able to file a candidate in every race at the local level.

Charles Burkett, a Republican commissioner candidate, said he couldn’t cite a reason for an increase in his Democratic opponents, but said he thinks it’s good any time there’s competition across the aisle in a campaign.

Eighteen candidates have filed to run for the county commissioner seats, nine Republicans, eight Democrats and one independent. Three of the current four county commissioners are running for reelection. Commissioner Randall Wagner is not running for reelection. There is currently an empty seat on the board, after County Commissioner Derek Harvey resigned from the board last month.

Dattilio, Reigh and Williams all said they could see a shift in election results that could start to turn Washington County into a more purple county, at least for the County Commissioners.

Williams said  he thinks a Democratic win is a very plausible possibility, based on current voter registration numbers and how fed up some county residents are with national politics.

“If things don’t change this year,” Williams said, “I don’t think that it’ll ever change.”

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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Councilmember Erika Bell – 7/27/2025 Traffic Stop – Hagerstown Police Department

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